4:26 PM
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsdickeyantennas/
A new Army-funded laser-based 3D mapping robot was demonstrated recently--it uses several mapping technologies to build 3D color maps of its surroundings:
http://www.gotgeoint.com/archives/army-3-d-mapping-drone-robot-creates-imagery-of-surrounding-areas-with-mile-long-lasers/
US warfighters will be able to use the Kestrel Eye (constellation of 30 small satellites to provide global 24/7 coverage) to be able to identify buildings and vehicles anywhere anytime. The satellites only cost around $1 million each, amazingly cheap for the military! A Predator UAV costs $5 million and large military satellites can get into the billions:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/grunts-get-spy-sats-of-their-own/
DOE scientists refined a solar cell manufacturing technique by "growing" polymers directly inside tubes of semiconducting material. This could lead to significantly cheaper solar cells:
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2009/news091110.html
Study found that women researchers are less likely to receive major funding grants, possibly due to family demands such as childbirth resulting in women taking time away or switching their careers:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/12/Policy-and-Industry-Study-Women-researchers-less-likely-to-receive-major-funding-grants/
The Large Hadron Collider set the world record after accelerating its twin proton beams to an energy of 1.18 TeV:
http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2009/PR18.09E.html
The deal between General Electric and Comcast has been completed, with Comcast getting a majority stake in NBC Universal (NBC, lots of cable networks, movie studio Universal Pictures, the Universal theme parks, etc.):
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34225581
Clearwire's CEO promised that there will be WiMAX handsets out by Christmas 2010:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/clearwire-rolls-out-new-markets-eyes-future-partners/2009-12-01?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Google released the winners of their second Android Developers Challenge--that Car Locator program would be a great App for a lot of people I know, and my kids would love Celeste:
http://code.google.com/android/adc/gallery_winners.html
Google news for Android--Verizon and Motorola's $100 million marketing effort has apparently paid off and more than 1 million Droid phones are expected to be sold by the end of this year (less than 2 months on the market):
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10406417-94.html
Consumer Reports survey found that AT&T was ranked *last* in wireless customer satisfaction for 19 out of the 26 cities surveyed while Verizon was *first* in *all* 26 cities:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-ranked-bottom-consumer-reports-survey/2009-12-01?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
Some good news for Apple--AT&T is apparently field testing the next generation iPhone:
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/28/apple-starts-field-testing-next-generation-iphone-31/
Article about how Microsoft's top developers do not use Microsoft's toolkits (which Microsoft has been trying to get their customers to adopt), using text editors or even command-line approaches:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/microsoft-bares-its-soul-and-creates-opening-google-357?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2009-12-01
With Oracle's buyout of Sun being held up by European Union concerns, this article examines what will happen to Sun if the buyout falls through:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/mergers-and-acquisitions/what-if-oracles-buyout-sun-falls-through-454?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2009-12-01
Vietnamese man claims that he dug up his wife's grave 2 years after she died, encased her body inside a plaster statue, and has slept next to his dead wife's body for the last four years:
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=53988
Looks like the woman who was involved with Tiger Woods has come forward--with her 300+ text messages and saved voicemails from Tiger....with the last voicemail from Tiger mentioning that his wife might have caught onto their affair left a few days before Tiger's accident:
http://www.tmz.com/2009/12/01/tiger-woods-us-weekly-jaimee-grubbs-affair-elin-nordegren-voicemail/